New photos in my photo-blog

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45493319@N02/sets/72157625367483395/
New photos posted of the Empty Flowers in my photo-blog.

The Secret Door screening at Philly F/M Fest

See The Secret Door on the big screen!
http://www.phillyfmfest.com/
9/26/2010 - 7:30 PM @
The Media Bureau
725 N. 4th Street Philadelphia, PA 19123

No venue information available for The Media Bureau.

The Secret Door

Please watch in HD by clicking here: http://vimeo.com/11690248
or just watch it in the window below at low quality.


The Secret Door from Edward Ballinger on Vimeo.

the new Slacks video is online now

Under the Rainbow...redux

Summertime is the official season of vacations and low budget independent film making, so it's time to get out there and make movie magic. Since I'm not working a film of my own this year I pitched in for a couple of days on Luke Ramer's horror/psychedelic weirdness movie, Under the Rainbow. Luke started this movie last Summer but as anybody who has attempted movie making will attest some times things can take a while to get finished.

This time out I took on the role of set dresser as well as grip and gaffer (there wasn't a lot of lighting to be done, the shoot taking place outside in daylight). After I set-up any gear for that I was responsible for, jib and light control and the set design was in place, I had free time to take still photos. I posted the whole set on Flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45493319@N02/sets/72157624485658001/

Many of the actors who performed in The Secret Door are working on Luke's film, so it was good to see the old gang again.

Some of my handiwork.
Shooting on 7/27 focused on events that occur around a makeshift "campsite". Give the materials that were available I made this peachy tent out of bedspreads and rope.

The Secret Door chosen for film fest

A rare and wonderful event is going to happen this September.  Like the migration of butterflies or some other equally impressive sight of majestic natural beauty, The Secret Door will screen at an honest-to-god real film festival.

I don't have much in the way of details yet but our film is on their webpage, so there is evidence that I did not just dream this in withered state of alcohol induced delirium.
Find out more at these links
http://www.phillyfmfest.com/
http://www.facebook.com/PhillyFMFestival

Lehigh Nanotech Conference job

Just a few snaps from a conference that my coworkers and I worked on Wednesday, The Lehigh Nanotech Network's Nano for Business 2010 Conference. It was a nice event but murderously long (7:30am - 6:30pm) and too be honest, I found myself a little sleepy after the speeches started. The forum/panel discussions were marginally more interesting for me as a camera op since I had to occasionally change my framing to follow the discussion. Man, it was hot in that room! One upside was that they gave us lunch (which was nice) and beers afterward (which was better).

I wish all of our events had beer.

Zero Tolerance Magazine mentions The Secret Door

Check it out, maaannnn.  Yeah, it's mainly about the music but that's cool.  It is a really good soundtrack.
http://v2.ztmag.com/blog/news/?p=131

new video from r.hoak

Song About a Girl #1 and #2 from Edward Ballinger on Vimeo.
I knocked this one out pretty quickly but I'm quite pleased with the result.  I feel like my compositing skills have come a long way and my design work is better than ever.  I would never claim to be a great After Effects artist, not even a good one, but I'm definitely more comfortable with it and I think that shows.

Microaggression

Here's a video I recently completed for my job. I don't normally crow about stuff I do for work because, to be honest, it's usually pretty boring stuff (I do event video for a university; classes, lectures, meetings, etc).
This project was a little more fun and I'm pretty happy with the results. Say what you will about the subject matter, I think it looks pretty good and that's what I'm concerned with.

Microaggression in Academia from Edward Ballinger on Vimeo.

The Secret Door screens at film fest

Apparently my short film, The Secret Door, screened at the Sharp Mountain Film Festival (http://sharpmountainfilmfestival.com/) on Sunday night, April 25, 2010 at Sovereign Majestic Theater in Pottsville, PA. 

Go me.

Unfortunately I was not informed by the festival organizers that the movie had been accepted so I wasn't there to enjoy it.  (It's always been my policy not to go to festivals that don't accept my submissions.  For me that basically translates into not going to a whole lot of film festivals.)
Oh well...maybe someday I'll get to see my work screened; another time, another fest, another film.

Time Theft continues to destroy metal fans.

As of this moment the new Punkmonkey Pictures music video for Total Fucking Destruction's "Time Theft" stands at over 1400 views, most of them in one week.  The video has been featured on more than 30 metal zines and discussion forums from all over the world.  Kids are so hungry for it that it's been ripped from Youtube and re-posted all over the web; on Asian and European pages and on BitTorrent.
I'm feeling like a proud daddy.

The new TFD video totally fucking destroys the metal blogs

So, the interwebs are chattering about the new TFD music video, Time Theft, directed by me and captured with the help of my friend, Luke Ramer.
For a video artist such as myself, struggling away in obscurity, it's always gratifying to hear people react to my work with phrases such as "badass", "very good and professional" and "Awesome!"
I can't help but revel in the glory, just a little, however faint, imaginary and fleeting it may be.

Total Fucking Destruction - Time Theft

Here's a music video I recently completed for my friends in Total Fucking Destruction. Check them out at myspace and facebook.

directed and edited by Ed Ballinger
camera operation by Luke Ramer and Ed Ballinger

D for Divorce

Here's a fun comedy sketch that I shot for Dan Maher, aka Flighty Ducks. Check out his other stuff on Youtube at username: AmishPiracy.
The sketch features Clayton Glabis and the remarkable Jane Horvath, fresh from her triumphant role in The Secret Door.
Please note that we froze our asses off doing this thing (shot January 30th on a windy hilltop in Nazareth, PA) so I hope you enjoy it.

The Secret Door is on IMDB

The Secret Door now has it's own IMDB page. Check it out for a complete credit listing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1601957/

Under the Rainbow, behind the scenes

I was back on the set of Under the Rainbow yesterday, just a day before my vacation no less, and snapped these photos with my iPhone. I must say that I really like everybody working on this flick. I've heard it said on TV that film crews are like families and always figured it was pretty much bullshit but I can see the potential for such a thing. I like these people. I hope I get to work with them all again, many times.